For Immediate Release
Rio Grande Issues Call for Entries for 2015 Saul Bell Design Award
Competition
August 2014 Rio Grande has issued the call for entries for the 2015
Saul Bell Design Award competition. Now in its 15th year, the
competition encourages designers to push the limits of their
imaginations as they create a piece of original jewelry art. This
year the competition challenges jewelers to define what design is to
them through the piece they create.
“We want jewelers to enter a piece that defines their vision as an
artist,” says Jamie Gros, the Creative Director at Rio Grande, which
hosts of the annual competition. “In the past, we’ve asked many of
the winners what design is to them, and their responses offered fresh
insight into their work.”
There are seven categories in the 2015 competition: gold/platinum,
silver/Argentium silver, metal clay, enamel, hollowware/art objects,
alternative metals/materials, and emerging jewelry artist. The
emerging jewelry artist category of the competition is now open to
designers who are 21 years of age and younger.
One of the jewelry industry’s foremost design events, the
competition is judged by jewelers and industry leaders who are
masters of their craft. They look for originality of design,
successful incorporation of materials, wearability (except in the
hollowware category) and quality of workmanship as they examine each
finalist piece both by hand and on a model.
“I have been fortunate enough to win many of the jewelry industry’s
top design awards, and I can say that the Saul Bell Award is the
most important to me,” says Ryan Roberts, the winner of the 2013
award in the gold/platinum category. “No other competition covers so
many aspects of what it takes to make a great piece of jewelry.
Winning a Saul Bell truly means that you’ve had your work
scrutinized by the industry’s top designers, jewelers, and jewelry
media professionals. I feel it is the most important design
competition in the business.”
Winning the award helps propel jewelers to new heights in their
careers and new levels of recognition and acclaim within the
industry. The winning pieces will be promoted throughout the
industry and displayed in the exclusive Plumb Club during the 2015
JCK, Las Vegas show.
“I encourage every jeweler I know to enter,” says Robin Waynee, the
2012 winner in the gold/platinum category. “My award has been very
beneficial within the industry. It has opened so many doors for me
that wouldn’t be available otherwise.”
Entries are due October 3, 2014. Emerging jewelry artists must
submit their entries by November 28, 2014. All finalist pieces are
due by January 30, 2015. The entry form and detailed information
about the competition, including submission guidelines and
about each of the categories, are available at